Mirror, Mirror (Book 2)

Chapter 4: Caitlin's Home

After Amelia's quick departure, Oliver takes his shower, ate his slightly burnt supper, and went upstairs to do his homework. One by one, he takes out several heavy textbooks from his gray backpack and put them carefully on his desk.

As he worked on his homework, Amelia left to find some stray cats to feed.

Due to the rough encounter, Oliver wanted to call the vampire, asking her if she is alright, but as he reached his pocket for his cellphone, his hand lingered for a second, then left it be.

Amelia will be fine, he thinks to himself. And besides, she did damage her phone earlier.

Although her self-control is a bit standoffish, the vampire knows how to blend with humans: she socializes well, she buys clothes, and she watches The Titanic, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Clueless on repeat.

And even though she wasn't careful to hide bodies, Oliver would go out of his way to keep her secret from the entire world, especially from his own mother, who works at the Esterville Bookstore.

It was a place where people would come to purchase novels and drink warm expressos from mugs.

To Oliver, it was like the Barnes and Nobles of Esterville; except that it opens at 8 o'clock in the morning to midnight.

Staring at the huge stack of books, Oliver takes a deep breath, and hastily starts his assignments.

First, Oliver began his math homework, which was pretty easy to him-it was all about answering quadratic equations from one to thirty.

He bit his lip in concentration, moving the yellow No. 2 pencil at his will. As Oliver worked, he can hear the sound of his clock ticking on the bedroom walls.

His room is depressing: he had gray walls, a messy, gray bed, a black bookshelf, a gray desk, a small, black carpet, a door to the closet and bathroom.

Books on mythology, Latin, Greek, monsters, and guides on how to catch goblins are stored away in shelves.

Sitting on the right-hand corner of Oliver's desk were wax candles, matches, tarot cards, and neat drawings of ancient circles.

Blue boxes of Kosher salt sat stiffly on Oliver's bed, lingering next to the silver containers of holy water.

As soon as Oliver saw the dark gray numbers, signs, and parenthesizes fill up the blank paper, he placed it between pages 270 and 272 in his math book, closed it, and focused on his science assignment.

His pen leaped from left and right until he hears the front door creaking downstairs, and the sound of metal car keys placing on top of the kitchen counter.

Hearing a loud sigh, Oliver stops working for a second then came downstairs to see his mother dropping her black leather handbag on the wooden floor.

Her brown eyes were tired, her skin was pale, and strands of blond hair were sticking out of her perfect ponytail.

Her outfit consisted of a lime green t-shirt with the black words, Esterville Bookstore on it, jeans, and black sneakers.

Exhausted, Caitlin Harper rubs her eyelids until she sees her son watching her.

"Hey, Oliver." her lips try to turn into a smile, but she didn't have the energy to do it.

"Did Amelia feed you?"

"Yeah, how was work?"

"Work was pathetic." Caitlin walks over to the fridge, opens it, and searched for a contained refreshment. Perhaps getting a bottle of wine or a glass of milk.